


Always Mine

by Tahlruil



Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Protective Tony Stark, Stony Bingo, Stony Bingo 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 21:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8260586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tahlruil/pseuds/Tahlruil
Summary: Tony doesn't have a lot of constants in his life - when you're a flashy, brilliant billionaire, things and people tend to come and go. But he knows he'll always have three things: his love of inventing, Iron Man, and Steve Rogers as his class president. Sure he'd maybe be totally down for Steve being more - a lot more, really - but even if they were only friends, Steve would always be the best president ever.
And anyone who wants to say otherwise is totally going to have to fight him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I couldn't sleep, so I started my Stony Bingo card. It's a little rough, as I wrote it pretty much just now, but I just wanted to write something quick and fluffy and smooshy. I love this freaking game, and I tried to kind of echo the tone of it - haven't played in a while because I got distracted by Marvel Puzzle Quest, so let me know how I did! I may or may not continue this story to resolve stuff... haven't decided yet.
> 
> If you follow some of my other stuff, please don't come after me with pitchforks. I'm working on it all, for true and for honest - it's just taking a while.
> 
> Comments give me life, and if you leave one I'll love you forever. <3
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!

“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. And I spend half my time with Tony and Jan – think about that for a minute.”

So maybe Tony should have felt insulted by that – and he did, distantly – but processing that was impossible, because he was waaaaay too busy enjoying the look on Taskmaster’s face. What he could see of it anyway, which was mostly eyebrows. Taskmaster’s eyebrows were having a major expression as Natasha shoved the petition he’d tried to get her to sign back into his hands. The redhead was the queen of monotone snark, and even if it had sort of been at his expense this time, Tony loved it when she used her powers for good.

It took a great deal of self-control, but Tony managed to wait to confront the stupidly masked villain – could he even _breathe_ in there? – until Natasha left. He watched along with Taskmaster as she crawled back into her cardboard box (his friends were all so delightfully strange) and went on her merry, ‘sneaky’ way. Only then did he leap out of the bushes to land before the dastardly fiend, striking a very heroic pose. The most heroic pose ever, really, and he knew he looked freaking majestic. Like a… like a bald eagle with red, white and blue tassels tied to its legs, soaring before a backdrop of the American flag, with fireworks exploding and somehow not burning the flag and o _kay_ so this wasn’t really his shtick. Dignity and majesty were for people with no _personality_.

So he broke that heroic and not at all inspired by Captain America pose in favor of lunging forward on his left foot, right arm extended to stick his index finger right into the Taskmaster’s face. “ **HA**!” Oooh, now there was another eyebrow show!

“Get out of my way, Stark.” Ugh. Why did everyone always say his last name that way? It wasn’t a curse for anyone else, so they didn’t need to spit it out like one.

“Oh, I’ll get out of your way all right. But first, you’re gonna hand that over. Yeah, Kamala told me aaaaaaalllll about your little stunt. You’re in so much trouble, and you don’t even know it.” Trying to school his smug grin into something more stern, Tony crossed his arms over his chest doing his best to imitate everyone who scolded him all the time. “So much trouble. Like, all the trouble. I mean, Fury probably won’t care, because he doesn’t really care about anything we do, but holy crap this was such a bad idea on your part. Coulson is gonna unleash the whole of his freaky arsenal on you, because Cap is like, his hero. And Pepper? You’re messing with her idea of a neat and orderly world and she will _destroy_ you. You aren’t gonna get away with this, so just hand it ov- HEY! Come on, I was just warming up here! You can’t just _leave_!” Okay, so whining was probably not going to get him any intimidating points, but what else was he supposed to do, with his enemy just walking away from him without any respect for the required monologue? The dastard!

“I don’t have time for you, Stark. I need more signatures.”

“You won’t get ‘em! Cap’s the best class president ever. No one’s gonna listen to you!” Other people were starting to stare as he shouted after Taskmaster, but Tony was pretty well used to it. “No one is gonna let you impeach him! You hear me? Nobody!”

~.~.~

Okay. So maybe he’d been a _little_ wrong, but Tony was about a thousand percent sure that all the signatures Taskmaster had managed to get were from the morally bankrupt portion of the campus. He’d get ‘em all later – Jan was working on a mob outfit for him that would match his. They were going to get justice and revenge, old-school style. Jan really, _really_ liked her mob boss outfit, and she was sort of thrilled to have a reason to wear it again. His would be equally awesome, and Taskmaster and his lame-o friends were going to be **so** sorry, but that was for later. It was for later because Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, AKA Tony’s best guy friend, AKA his not-so-secret crush, AKA the most spectacular and wonderful person on the PLANET was sitting a few feet away from him. Steve was sitting there on his bar stool, looking absolutely devastated by this turn of events.

Tony wanted to wrap him up in blankets and hide him away from the world that seemed so determined to hurt him.

“I don’t understand,” Cap murmured plaintively for at least the tenth time. The repetition would be irritating if the whole picture wasn’t so heartbreaking. “I’ve worked so hard. I thought… I thought I was doing a good job.”

“You are!” Tony told him forcefully, joining in on the chorus of affirmations their whole crowd had raised. Well, everyone but Natasha and the Winter Soldier. (Not _Bucky_ because he was jealous of _Bucky_ because Steve **loved** _Bucky_ ) The brainwashed former assassin was staring at his blond ‘friend’ (the one he couldn’t remember and didn’t really know, not like Tony did, and life was so _unfair_ sometimes) with an aura of intense concentration, like he could see the secret of life in those wonderfully blue eyes. His fingers moved over the strings of his guitar, and he strummed a chord as his mouth opened… Only to be covered by Natasha’s hand.

“No.”

“Bu’ a ha’ peft line,” the Winter Soldier tried, brow furrowing.

“No. No songs right now, and I doubt the line was perfect anyway.” The man visibly drooped, and _god_ two depressed super soldiers was just unbearable. No, no, this couldn’t be allowed – the Winter Soldier’s wilting only intensified Steve’s misery, and god he just wanted to go buy them things to make them feel better. Puppies – everyone liked puppies. Tony reached for his phone, fully intending to order like, a million puppies to shower on the pair at least, but someone else had a better idea. Even as she pretended she wasn’t affected in the slightest, Natasha gave in to the air of woe that had settled on the shoulders of her soldier. Sighing heavily and rolling her eyes, she pulled her hand away before amending her statement. “Write it down so you don’t forget it, and you can show it-”

“Sing it.” The Winter Soldier insisted mulishly.

“Fine. Whatever. Later you can sing the line to me. I’ll tell you if it’s perfect and help you finish the song.” That was all it took – the Winter Soldier perked instantly and nearly _smiled_. His eyes did everything right, and the corners of his mouth even quirked a little – Tony was sort of proud of him. It seemed Natasha shared the feeling, because she leaned forward and planted a quick peck on the unappreciated musician’s lips. Acting as if nothing at all had occurred, she then turned her full attention back to Steve; Tony wasn’t stupid enough to acknowledge the way the Winter Soldier reached out to entwine his metal fingers with Natasha’s.

_No one_ was stupid enough to mention the way both of them were blushing. (Jan snapped a picture though, so they could coo together over it later, because it was freaking adorable even if he was jealous of _Bucky_ ).

Steve was wearing a pained, wistful sort of smile though, like he was trying to be happy but just couldn’t manage it. Usually when Natasha and the Winter Soldier were all cute Steve lit up like the sun, but finding out that part of the student body wanted him gone was clearly breaking his heart enough to dim his joy. Tony was going to get Taskmaster for this; he was going to throttle the fiend for taking away his sunshine.

“I should have taken the petition away from him when he tried to get me to sign it. Sorry Steve. I had a new lead on Fury an- shut **up**!” Natasha told the group viciously when they all groaned at the mention of Fury’s name. “I’m getting close, I know it! Anyway. I apologize for not taking the stupid petition and lighting it on fire then.” Reverting back to her apathetic mask, she tossed her hair and stared impassively at the wall… but she was definitely making plans to set something on fire, Tony could tell. The Winter Soldier practically had hearts exploding out of his eyes, so he’d clearly recognized it too.

“No, it’s… it’s okay. I mean…” Tony watched Steve visibly gather himself from this latest punch to the gut, and it hit him square in the chest, just below the arc reactor. That gorgeously sculpted jaw firmed while broad, strong shoulders squared and he forced his spine into a perfectly upright position. He was about to do that _thing_ he always did, Tony was sure of it. That thing where he acted all selfless and like it didn’t matter that life kept socking him in the face, and it didn’t matter that he was lonely and out of time, and everyone should just carry on as normal because he could carry the burden on his own. That thing always made Tony angry even as it made him want to cry. Steve was going to give up, probably out of some misplaced sense of self-sacrifice – if the students wanted him not to be president anymore, he’d bow out gracefully because it was the will of the people. That couldn’t happen; Steve couldn’t not be the class president.

Tony couldn’t let it happen, not when he remembered what Steve had been like when he first got to the academy. He’d been so _lost_ then, and trying too hard to be strong. Tony remembered the way he’d resisted fun like the plague, like he didn’t deserve to enjoy anything once he left the ice to find his whole world was gone. He remembered grim expressions and a tightly clenched jaw; he remembered needed to spend hours teasing and poking and prodding just to get _one_ fondly exasperated smile. When he’d decided to run for class president though, Steve had started to come alive. It had given him purpose and a reason to engage, and suddenly ‘Captain America’ was receding, leaving Steve to spend hours doing the Charleston or playing pool with Sam. He’d started laughing, and then he’d started to tease Tony back. Getting elected had _saved_ Steve, Tony was sure of it, and losing the title would destroy him. Tony couldn’t, wouldn’t let that happen. He never, ever, ever wanted to see that sad, haunted look in Steve’s eyes ever again. So when the blond opened his mouth to speak, Tony didn’t wait to hear him outline his plans to resign and apologize to the student body… he just moved.

Before he’d even fully decided to act, Tony found himself standing in front of Steve, with one hand splayed over his crush’s still-open mouth. “No! No, it’s not _okay_ , Steven, so just… shush. I know you’re gonna say something stupidly noble about the will of the people or the democratic process or whatever, something dumb like that, but just… no. You’re a great president, and anyone who can’t see that is a moron, and morons shouldn’t be allowed to decide who gets to be president. I mean, I back you, and I have excellent taste and awesome instincts, so you have to be the best, right? Don’t insult me by resigning or doing something equally dumb, okay? Just don’t. You’re awesome – like honestly the best ever. So don’t even think about all this, okay? I’ll handle it, ‘cause you’re my president and you always will be and I’m not gonna let some stupid D-list wannabe villain do this to you. I’ll take care of it. You just keep doing your cool prez stuff, and don’t worry. You’re not going anywhere. I won’t let that happen, not ever. So… so …” Babbling. God, he was babbling, and…

And suddenly Tony registered the fact that everyone else hanging with them in Club A had gone completely still and silent. Jan and Kamala were standing side by side, leaning against each other and clasping each other’s hands, pure fangirl joy shining on their faces. Rhodey was smirking while Same looked sort of embarrassed; Coulson looked simultaneously rapturous and jealous; Peggy had a knowing smile on her ruby red lips that made Tony want to squirm. The Winter Soldier was clearly writing a song about this in his head, while Natasha had one eyebrow arched eloquently. Heart thumping loudly in his chest, Tony looked back to Steve.

Steve, whose perfect, beautiful eyes were wide in what Tony hoped was shock and not anger – his speech had sort of gotten away from him and oh. Oh wait. Oh no. Oh crap. Those eyes were a lot closer than they probably should be, because apparently words weren’t the only thing Tony hadn’t been able to control. At some point while passionately orating to his crush, he’d moved closer and closer, and now he was practically _on top_ of Steve. Standing between his parted legs, as a matter of fact, their chests almost touching, and god it was embarrassing to be short but at the same time it was nice to have sitting Steve be pretty much on eye-level and oh god they were close enough to kiss, except Steve wouldn’t want to and crap he should be dropping his hand and stepping away, not staring like an idiot. But there was a splash of color on Steve’s cheeks, an embarrassed flush, and that was beautiful, so how could he look away? And under his hand, Steve’s mouth was still hanging open, and Tony could feel his lips and his breath and _shit_ Steve had just tried to lick those awesome lips and that had been his _tongue_ and... nope. Nope nope nope.

“Ughfshpt.” If anyone asked later, Tony was absolutely going to deny that such a stupid, stupid sound had escaped him. It wasn’t his fault that his brain was short circuiting! He should try again, but Steve had just licked his lips again and he wasn’t leaning back or pushing Tony away and that meant _something_ right? He should stay and find out, but his brain was still noping the fuck out, so he was gonna have to do the same thing before he embarrassed himself even further. “Hng.”

Like that. Exactly like that. Crap.

Dropping his hand, Tony did the only thing he possibly could do in such a mortifying situation – he activated his boots and propelled himself the heck out of dodge.

He was never going to hear the end of this, and he’d probably totally alienated his best friend and his not-so-secret crush, and this was a terrible day.

Except he’d _totally_ gotten to feel Steve’s tongue gliding over his skin. That was the stuff his dreams were made of.

That _almost_ made up for all the other stuff.

~.~.~

If he’d wanted someone to make him feel better about what had happened, Tony would have gone to Stark Tower to talk to J.A.R.V.I.S. and play with his tech. Kamala would look for him there, and so would Sam. Or he could have headed to Pym’s lab to make things explode, where Jan and Rhodey would have eventually looked. Natasha and Coulson wouldn’t care enough, Peggy was probably too busy laughing at his idiocy to want to console him, and who knew what was going through the Winter Soldier’s head. Steve probably wouldn’t look for him either, because that had just been embarrassing, and now he probably _knew_ , and Tony didn’t want to feel better. He wanted to be swallowed by the earth and never be seen by surfacers again. He wanted to disappear into the dark and become king of the mole people, because they were the only ones who would understand him and his pain.

So he shunned all of his usual hangouts and shut off his phone so no one could get in touch with him. He just wanted some time alone to digest, so he would know how serious his plans to live inside the earth needed to be. Instead he headed to the robo dojo, because no one would expect him there – even if he’d designed the robots that everyone fought, and even if he maintained them, and even if he did occasionally go there to train, people were always shocked if they saw him there. His friends wouldn’t think to look there. For a while he toyed with the idea of working out, but… that was too flashy. Someone would notice. So instead he grabbed himself a robot that looked like it had gone a few rounds and began to tinker.

It was soothing, the work, and he felt all the tension start to drain away. There was no audience to play to, nobody to please but himself, and god Tony loved this. No matter what anyone said about him, no matter what stupid things he’d done throughout the day, no one could ever take this away from him. He’d always, always have this – he would always have the smell of oil and the feel of smooth metal under his hands; would always have the hum of creation in his bones and a swirl of ideas that slowly coalesced into one shining moment where the world made sense and he saw his thoughts made real. This, Steve and being Iron Man were all that _really_ mattered.

Tony lost track of time, because it wasn’t one of the three things he actually cared about. It was only when he paused to stretch out his lower back (and it made _such_ a satisfying ‘pop’ when he did) that he realized it had probably been an hour or two at least… and that he’d gained an audience. Steve was there, sitting on the floor a few feet away, body angled toward Tony. He had one of his art books in his lap and was quietly sketching away as if he had all the time in the world. Tony felt a rush of affection for the blond; everyone else was always interrupting and demanding his attention, but not Steve. Not unless he thought Tony needed sleep or food. If he wasn’t nagging Tony about those two things, he would always settle and let him work, drawing happily and quietly until Tony’s attention settled on him naturally.

Because it always did.

Watching as Steve worked, the embarrassment, the mortification over his earlier outburst came back. He felt his cheeks grow warm and he ducked his head, trying to figure out how to fix this. He’d gotten way too close, and stared way too hard, and Steve had surely noticed his infatuation. Even if that had managed to escape his notice, he’d probably seen the bulge starting to grow in Tony’s jeans, and if he had been too oblivious for _that_ , their friends had probably gleefully pointed it out. He wanted to be more to Steve, absolutely, but that wasn’t going to happen because why would Steve want him, but he wanted them to be _something_ , so he’d decided friends was enough, and what if he lost that too? How could he fix this? How could he keep Steve from gently, carefully cutting Tony out of his life? What could he-

“Stop thinking so hard.” Steve’s voice cut into his ruminating even as the man brought that art book down lightly on Tony’s head. It wasn’t a hard hit, just enough to make him start and look up at Steve with wide eyes. That was a mistake, because when he did Steve was wearing a warm, almost tender expression and Tony’s brain started short circuiting again.

“I… that’s… what? I’m not… why? You’re here, I mean. Why?” Words were so hard sometimes, and what use was being a genius if he couldn’t even form a sentence when his crush smiled at him?!

“Why wouldn’t I be? I mean… you’re here.” Steve was blushing again, and it was just… just the best sight ever. Everything Steve did was the best. Steve should have statues. All the statues, everywhere, because he deserved them. He deserved… wait. What?

“What?” Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Steve was getting closer, and Tony was pretty sure it wasn’t his imagination, though he wasn’t willing to rule out the possibility that he was having a stroke or something. In fact, Steve was getting closer than he’d ever really been before, except for earlier in Club A, and oh. Oh dear. Sitting on the floor had definitely been a good decision on Tony’s part, because Steve had crawled over the robot and was now almost in his lap, and a stroke was really looking like the likeliest scenario. With his hands planted on either side of Tony’s body, Steve was angled so he had to look up into his face, and oh there was a tent being pitched in his pants again and there was no way Steve wouldn’t notice, and this was SO bad.

“Hey Tony?”

“Uh, um… it’s… I… yes?”

“Did you mean it earlier? What you said?”

“I’m currently having a blood flow problem,” Tony answered, pretty sure he was about to dissolve into hysterics. Especially because his words made Steve drag those pretty blue eyes down his body until they landed in his lap, and oh that tent was growing and Steve would see, and yup he definitely had because the smile on his face when their eyes meant again was downright wicked. “And it's sort of messing with my memory. What did I say again?” Steve didn’t look mad about all this. Steve didn’t look mad or disgusted and was invading his personal space and there was sin in the curve of his lips and yeah. This had to be a stroke. 

“Lots of things. You said I was the best.”

“Check. Meant that.”

“And that you wouldn’t let anyone take away my presidency.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So you have my back?”

“Oh yeah. Definitely. Not even a question.” Steve was getting closer and closer, and Tony was really hoping this was actually happening. “Even during the Civil War we had, I’d have dropped everything if I’d thought you needed me.” Too much! Oversharing! Bad Tony! Well, maybe good Tony, because Steve blushed again at the admission, and there was something so soft and sweet in his eyes. Something he was afraid to name, but he knew he wanted it to be there forever.

“You said I was your president-”

“And that you always would be. Yup. Always mine. Ah! I mean… I didn’t mean it like that. Well, I mean, maybe except if you don’t want me to, and uhm.”

“Bucky says you look at me like he looks at Natasha.” They were so close now, enough that he could feel Steve’s breath moving over his lips. He swallowed hard, considering the ways he could respond.

“Yes.” Was all he managed, voice hoarse with fear and hope and want.

When Steve’s mouth met his in a brief, tentative kiss, the world made bright, shining sense. It made sense in a way the world never did unless he was tinkering and building and creating. _Steve and Tony_ made sense together, like this was how it was always supposed to be. Like they’d been moving toward this since their very first meeting, and now that it had happened, all was right with the world. The short, shy kiss was a revelation, so Tony thought it was understandable he whimpered when Steve pulled back. “No,” he whispered, lifting his hands to frame Steve’s face. He gently pulled the blond forward once more to capture his lips, and there it was again – that sense that this was exactly where he was supposed to be.

As Steve made a happy (almost relieved, like he’d thought Tony would reject him which was _ridiculous_ in the extreme) sound in the back of his throat, he wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist, gathering him close… and without either of them supporting their weight, the pair collapsed to one side. Ever the strategist and gallant hero, Steve acted quickly and rolled; Tony ended up draped over his chest, which was a really, really great place to be. They hadn’t broken the kiss, but now they were both laughing softly into it – it should have been irritating maybe, or destroyed the mood, but… well. It was somehow perfect, and the world still made complete and total sense, and Steve was with him and kissing him. And when the laughter ended and Steve licked his way into Tony’s mouth, the world that made sense began to fade away, because it didn’t matter. The only things that mattered were the things that Tony knew would always be in his life.

Tony would always, always have the act of creating, would always have a swirl of brilliant ideas begging to be brought to life. Tony would always, always be Iron Man, because as much as Fury hated it and as much as other people questioned his ability to be a hero, there was no separating Iron Man from Tony Stark. Most importantly, Tony would always, always, always have Steve. 

His last coherent thought before he let himself get lost in the best thing he’d always have was that he sort of owed Taskmaster a thank-you before he utterly destroyed him.

**Author's Note:**

> [My Stony Bingo Masterlist](http://tahlreth.tumblr.com/post/151652494628/stony-bingo-r2-masterlist)! Not sure which square to focus on next, so if you have any suggestions/requests, let me know!


End file.
